


House Hunters

by Warbles



Category: Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Character Study, Codependency, Eddie Brock’s depression times, Found Family, Healing, M/M, he’s sad but then he takes care of a cat and a plant and gets an alien bf, wlw/mlm solidarity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-14
Updated: 2019-04-08
Packaged: 2019-08-01 08:16:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 17,804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16280903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Warbles/pseuds/Warbles
Summary: Riot and Drake may be gone, but Venom’s dead, leaving Eddie at a loss. So when Mrs. Chen hesitantly offers to help out after he beats up the local asshole who’s been stealing her money, Eddie can’t find a good reason to say no.This is how Eddie Brock becomes roommates with a 72 year old geriatric Chinese woman, her fugly cat, and an assortment of half dead plants. Somehow, it works.





	1. A Nest of Loose Yarn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eddie needs a place to crash and reevaluate his life, but instead he goes shopping for depression snacks

“Fuck,” Eddie said, slumping heavily against the doorway. With all the shit that had gone down in the last forty-six hours, he had completely forgotten that the stupid fucking Life Foundation had trashed his apartment.

 

For a moment, Eddie flashed back to that night: shaking alone, he’d thought, alone in his bathroom, covered in sweat and puke and rancid chicken, wondering if he’d finally snapped. His disbelief, his paranoia, the pacing back and forth in his living room before three, four, five _bastard_ henchmen came crashing through his door, screaming abuse about some alien creature and waving their guns before some _thing_ took over his body for itself to use as a puppet, a _weapon_ –

 

Eddie flinched. That wasn’t fair, he shouldn’t… he shouldn't think things like that. Not after after that “thing” sacrificed his life for Eddie’s.

 

Eddie cast a glance around his ruined apartment. _And what a life that is_ , he thought sourly. What a fair fucking trade; a strange, beautiful creature from a far away star chose to betray its entire race and purpose of existence for one measly human, and not even a particularly good one at that.

 

Venom abandoned everything he ever knew for Eddie, and now Eddie couldn’t even cry for him. All he could do was stand shivering, dripping a mix of salt water and rain in the hallway of his apartment building because– well. He wasn’t sure. He just knew he couldn’t go back inside.

 

And it wasn’t because he was scared of course, because why would Eddie Brock be scared of the shithole apartment he rented by the month? He was just… uncomfortable, that was it. His home had just been violated after all! That gave him the right to feel weird; his sense of safety had been destroyed along with almost every object he owned! He’d liked that sofa! He’d liked that coffee table. He’d liked that lamp; Annie had picked it out with him. Hell, after six months, he’d almost even become fond of this place.

 

After all, this was where he met his best friend. But now that friend was dead, and Eddie didn’t want to return home without him.

 

Eddie dropped his hand from the doorframe as if he’d been burned. He took an unsteady step back, and then another one, and another, and another until his back was pressed flat against his asshole metalhead neighbor’s door.

 

“Fuck,” he breathed, his heart hammering. “This is all so fucked.”

 

Here he was, battered and bruised to hell and back, trying to sneak into his apartment which had been cordoned off by police tape because it was a _fucking murder scene_ and active investigation site, and _oh shit_ , did that mean he counted as the murderer there even though it was technically Venom who killed them? Whatever, didn’t matter. Either way, Eddie was on the verge of a panic attack in the crackhead corner of the communal hallway because he missed his fucking parasite and felt like a goddamn freak because he was too pussy to make himself walk through a half-open doorway.

 

Eddie choked on a laugh. Oh god, he really was a pussy, wasn’t he? A crazy pussy who was afraid of heights and being alone with his thoughts because now he knew _he didn’t have to be,_ and that had felt so nice, _so nice_ –

 

Eddie walked briskly back towards the elevator. _Pussy_ , he thought to himself fiercely. _You goddamn pussy._

 

***

 

“Eddie, you returning those tapes soon? Looks like you are not using them, maybe I give them to someone else who will,” Mrs. Chen said, pursing her lips. Eddie replied with a face that was more grimace than a smile, and stumbled towards the snack section of the corner store. Mrs. Chen frowned.

 

Eddie hasn’t slept in God knows how long. He’s afraid of what he’ll see if he closes his eyes, if he’ll relive getting his stomach torn open and the fall, the long freezing fall into the ocean. If he blinks too slowly he can see his hands tearing up towards the sky, the fire, as air rushes passed him and a scream, a name, maybe? Is torn from his throat.

 

Eddie shakes his head. _We’re here for Funions,_ he reminded himself. Eddie paused, and felt his throat start to close. _No, we’re not._ I’m _here for Funions._

 

Eddie quickly snatched a bag of knock-off Cheetos and a six pack instead.

 

“Taking long enough,” Mrs. Chen said with an eye roll as he approached the counter. Eddie gave her another awkward fake half-smile, and Mrs. Chen’s forehead wrinkled as she started to take him all in. Undoubtedly seeing that he was covered in filly clothes and sweat, Eddie shrunk, awaiting another biting remark from the older woman. Instead, her face softened.

 

“Eddie,” she started, “are you–?”

 

Mrs. Chen was cut off by the loud _clink-bang!_ of a brief bell ring before it too was cut off, this time by the metal store door being slammed opened. A large, stone-faced man strode inside. Mrs. Chen gulped. Eddie stared.

 

He knew this man, or at least had seen him here before. He was, was he the man who worked for the local gang of extortioners? He must be, because now he was shoving Eddie out of the way by the counter, and slinging his gun on the table, flicking off the safety, growling at Mrs. Chen in Mandarin.

 

The thief was gnoring him. Ignoring Eddie, like he was just some weak, cowardly, strung-out junkie. A weaselly little fucker who would watch an old lady get robbed, who _was_ watching an old lady get robbed! Eddie curled his fists while Mrs. Chen popped open the cash box with shaky hands.

 

Sleep deprived, delirious, and angry, Eddie felt his body begin to tense up. This wasn’t right, robbing an old lady, robbing _Mrs. Chen_ , who had been selling food to this neighborhood on her own for at least a decade. It especially wasn’t fair to take her money when everything in the city was so damn expensive now, and sure, maybe Eddie wasn’t– wasn’t _Venom_ anymore, but he was still Eddie Brock, and Eddie Brock hated injustice.

 

So he couldn’t help but grin like a maniac when he punched that dick thief right in the back of the head with all he had. Didn’t bother masking the huff of a laugh he let out when the other man broke his nose against the counter with a red spray, when Mrs. Chen stepped of of the way with a surprised shout before grabbing her soup thermos and cracking it down on the gangster’s head. The man sank to the floor with a moan.

 

Eddie kicked him sharply in the ribs, knocked the man’s gun from his grip before kneeling over his prone figure. The man groaned.

 

_Weak. Pathetic._

 

Eddie pressed his forearm into the other man’s jugular, hard. The gangster gagged. “Fuck. Off,” he growled. “You won’t come back here. You won’t come a hundred feet _near_ here, not you _or_ your little buddies if you value your lives. I don’t care how big or bad you think you dumbfucks are, but know that I _will_ rip you to pieces if you _ever_ give Mrs. Chen trouble again.”

 

Eddie stood, and spit. “Get outta here,” he said with a scowl. The man rose, unsteady as Eddie had felt since the fall eight hours ago, and darted out the door.

 

Eddie turned to Mrs. Chen, still standing pale behind the register. He looked at the shopping bag in his one unbloodied hand. “One six pack of Coronas and a bag of hot Cheetos please.”

 

Mrs. Chen laughed, short and sharp. “For Eddie? No charge.”

 

Eddie grinned like a shark. He felt… well, not powerful per say, but still, it was something, even if he couldn’t make good on his threat to the man now that Venom was gone. And didn’t that feel like a punch to the gut?

 

Something must have shown on his face, because Mrs. Chen’s vicious excitement slipped back into the same look of concern she had worn when he walked through the door a few minutes past. “You are unwell,” she said, frowning.

 

“Yeah,” he said. Eddie didn’t feel like lying.

 

She nodded shortly. “Okay,” she said. “I can help.”

 

Eddie snorted. “No offense Mrs. Chen, ‘cause I think you’re uh, a fine woman, but I’m not sure this is something that a few of your cousin’s mediation videos will fix.”

 

“Probably not,” she agreed. “But maybe something else? What do you need?”

 

_Food. Money, my old job back. To not be caught by the police, the Feds. Annie. Venom too, maybe._

 

“Sleep,” he answered instead. He meant it when he said he didn’t want to lie.

 

“It’s a start,” Mrs. Chen said. “So go rest.”

 

Eddie made a face. “I can’t go home anymore. I kinda, uh, definitely lost the down payment on my apartment when a bunch of assholes destroyed it.”

 

Mrs. Chen sighed. “You make everything so complicated,” she tisked, beginning to rumble around in a desk drawer, “but lucky for you, I am here. Take this,” she said, thrusting a key into Eddie’s hand. He blinked.

 

“What’s this?” he asked, confused.

 

“Apartment key, mine. Just up the stairs. You can sleep on the couch, for now.”

 

“Mrs. Chen–”

 

“Lan.”

 

“What?”

 

Mrs. Chen rolled her eyes. “ _Lan_. It’s my name, dummy. Now do yourself a favor and go sleep for twelve hours.”

 

Eddie stood still while Mrs. Chen– Lan? No, still Mrs. Chen– went back to work. Seeing nothing else to do, he began to walk towards a door that said “employees only.” He paused while turning the lock. “Mrs. Chen?”

 

“Yes?”

 

“Thank you.”

 

Eddie didn’t see the way her lips tipped up as he slowly climbed the stairs, but if he had, he would have appreciated it. Instead, all he heard was her call of, “and watch out for Bao! He will be hungry!” and shivered.

 

***

 

The next morning, Eddie woke up pleased to find he had had a dreamless sleep before he felt a mouthful of sharp, tiny teeth sink into his foot. “What the fuck!” he shrieked, kicking at whatever had nipped at him.

 

The world’s ugliest cat shrieked back at him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since I’m basing this fic more off the movie than the comics, I’m gonna call the Symbiote Venom and use he/him pronouns. Also I haven’t forgotten my other fic, I just was excited about the movie lol. I’ve only gotten to see it once so if you see any screw ups hmu; I’m cool with/like critisism too.


	2. A Hut Built of Sticks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eddie adjusts. Mrs. Chen reflects.

Eddie had been here for three days, cocooned in a sweaty blanket in his local grocer’s living room. He didn’t turn on the tv. He didn’t move if he doesn’t have to. He slept, or at least, he tried. It wasn’t  easy, and the cat wasn’t helping.

 

Their relationship hasn’t improved since their godawful meeting a few days ago. Every time the hairless little goblin saw him, it hissed. If Venom were still around, he’d hiss back. The idea made Eddie smile, just a bit. _He’d probably try to eat it,_ Eddie thought, snorting.

 

Sometimes it’s good to laugh. Not good enough to make him get off the couch, but it’s something.

 

“Baby steps,” Annie used to tell him when he got like this. “The world won’t stop, but it’ll slow down if you let it. Just know that you can’t halt it forever.”

 

Something about those words wasn’t as comforting as it used to be. Now they settled uncomfortably in Eddie’s stomach, making him feel small, bitter, and silly: a child, embarrassed and angry at being scolded by their mother. But it wasn’t Annie’s job to mother him anymore; it never was, really. Maybe that’s why he ultimately lost her.

 

Her new boyfriend, Don? Dan? Dan. He was a doctor. He was kind, mature in a way Eddie still felt he hadn’t figured out. He bet Dan had paid off his student loans, and always made his rent on time. He probably never overstayed his welcome at a stranger’s house because his apartment was destroyed by a mad scientist’s goons because Dan ran away with an alien symbiote.

 

Dan was the kind of man you settled down with. Dan was husband material, unlike Eddie, who was beginning to realize he might be the kind of man who free falls for six months, hoping for something, someone, _anybody_ , to catch him, and then hits the ground face first and alone because he missed every single helping hand reaching out while he plummeted. Or maybe he ignored them. Not that it mattered anymore.

 

Eddie rolled over, pressing his face into the old couch cushion to scream. He was so stupid! He was so stupid and childish, letting himself fall this far and spiral so hard.

 

If he didn’t catch himself soon he’d sink even further and start dwelling on his daddy issues, and there was no way in hell he could handle that right now. Eddie was already reliving every shitty thing that happened to him or crappy decision he made; he didn’t have to throw childhood trauma into it too.

 

“Slow your roll there, buddy,” he said to himself softly. “Don’t gotta deal with all that shit at once.” That’s what beer was for, after all. Or maybe vodka.

 

But Eddie wasn’t desperate enough to steal Mrs. Chen’s liquor, and he was too tired to go out and buy his own. So he slept.

 

***

“Lazy boy,” Mrs. Chen sighed, passing Eddie’s prone form. “Bao, _guò lái, māo_! Take care of lazy boy while I am gone,” she said, scribbling a shopping list on a torn notepad page before shoving it into her purse. The cat flicked its tail.

 

Mrs. Chen glanced over her shoulder as she unlocked the door. Discarded blankets and magazines lay scattered around her living room floor, framed by dead plants hanging from the ceiling and dust bunnies in the corner. There was a juice stain on the floor.

 

Dear lord, her apartment was starting to look like a mess. This would never do; her mother had raised her so much better than this.

 

Mrs. Chen– Lan now, really– felt a memory begin to surface, and embraced the gentle wave of nostalgia it brought. It was from when she was small, not two years after she and her family moved to America. With only the barest pinch of an ache, she remembered working side-by-side with her mother, scrubbing the dingy apartment floor. The place wasn’t much, but it was theirs, and for now, that was enough.

 

“Lan,” her mother said, pushing a sweaty clump of hair above her head as she sat back on her haunches, “Lan, you’re doing it wrong. Scrub like this,” she said, gently resting her hand atop her daughter’s, showing her the best way to clean. “This way you’ll clean more, faster.”

 

“ _Mama_!” Lan hissed, snatching her hand away, “just let me do it! I’m not a baby, I can do this!”

 

Her mother paused, and then slowly grasped Lan’s hand again, giving it a soft squeeze. Lan felt her cheeks redden. “Sorry,” she mumbled.

 

Her mother smiled. “I know.”

 

Lan flushed further, and her mother laughed. “It’s okay sweetheart, it’s okay! I don’t mind,” she said, dropping her rag back into the bucket of dirty water to swish and wring it out again, just as she had all morning. “I’m just glad you’re helping. I would hate to do this all alone.”

 

“Of course I wouldn’t let you do this alone!” Lan protested. Her mother laughed once more, quieter this time. “I mean it!” Lan said.

 

It was suddenly very important to Lan that her mother knew that she would always do everything she could to help her, no matter what. So what if her father was distant and didn’t help clean; that was how it was meant to be! So what if her brother was never home; he had his schooling to tend to. So what if her sister was always out, doing god knows what? None of that mattered because Lan was here, here with her mother, who she would never, ever leave to bare all the responsibilities alone.

 

She was a good daughter. She was _a good girl_. And yeah, maybe she was too prickly sometimes, and maybe she complained too much, and maybe she was too pigheaded and bullheaded and muleheaded, but _damnit_ if she wouldn’t help her mother dust and cook and clean and mop. Damnit if she wouldn’t shush and rock her baby sister, or tend the shop, or wrap her brother’s broken wrist.

 

She was a good daughter. She was stubborn, and didn’t accept help easily, but she was a good daughter. A good girl. A good person.

 

Lan pushed aside her pride. “Show me how to scrub it right again?”

 

Blinking hard, Mrs. Chen found herself in a different apartment, in a different neighborhood, in a different century, looking at another stubborn, sad young thing, and bit her lip, hard.

 

She stalked over to the other side of the room, and shook Eddie awake. He shoved himself up, gasping, eyes flicking around the room rapidly.

 

“What–where– why am I; Mrs Chen?”

 

The older woman rolled her eyes. “I’m going out; need to pick up a few things. I’m leaving you in charge while I’m gone, _xíng?_ Maybe water the plants, put the blankets and dishes away.”

 

Eddie nodded, still very obviously out of it. Bao wailed, causing Eddie to yelp. Mrs. Chen snorted.

 

“Yes, maybe feed Bao too, see if he needs fresh water. He likes that.” Eddie stared at the cat, his face strange and pinched. Mrs. Chen shrugged it off, turning back towards the door. “Oh, and Eddie?”

 

“Hm?”

 

“Take care of yourself.”

 

Eddie blinked, and slowly began to almost smile.

 

“Because you’re starting to smell like,” here Mrs. Chen made a vague hand gesture, and then made a face, frustrated. “You smell– I don’t know, bad. Take a shower.”

 

And with that, Mrs. Chen left.

 

Checking to make sure the door was shut securely, Eddie quickly sniffed himself. “Oh fuck, she’s right.”

 

The cat howled again. “Oh shut up, you hairless little– _thing_. You don’t exactly smell great either.”

 

Bao hissed in return as Eddie shouldered past, making his way to the kitchen. “Jerk,” Eddie grumbled. The little creature had it out for him; yesterday it had pissed in his shoe! He had no idea why it hated him so much. Eddie hadn’t done a damn thing to the wrinkly little bastard, yet it still chewed on his socks and tore at his blankets.

 

If the cat from hell wasn't Mrs. Chen’s, he’d be tempted to toss it out on the street. As it was now, part of Eddie didn’t even want to both giving it fresh water, and wanted to go back to hiding from the world on the couch, fending off nightmares and flinching at common city noises.

 

But it _was_ Mrs. Chen’s, and right now, getting water for her cat and tidying up the apartment was the least he could do. So why did it feel so hard?

 

When had such small tasks as these begin to feel so insurmountable?

 

Shaking his head, Eddie took stock of the kitchen: shabby cabinets, linoleum floor, plastic counter tops. Not too different from his old place, if he was being honest.

 

“So this should be easy then,” he said to himself.

 

Why was it not easy then?

 

Eddie started to put the dishes away just to have something to do.

 

***

Eddie wasn’t finished by the time Mrs. Chen got home, but he had started, and just like before, this was enough.

 

“Thank you,” she said, squeezing his shoulder as she walked by, making Eddie freeze in his task of refolding the blankets.

 

“That can be difficult with only one person. Do you need any help?” Mrs. Chen asked.

 

Eddie surprised himself with a laugh. “Yeah,” he said, “yeah, I really could.”

 

***

“Lazy boy, I need someone to clean out the back shelves in the store.”

 

“Lazy boy, run to the bank to get change, will you? Here’s the account number. If I find one penny out of place, I’ll kick your ass to the streets and feed you to Bao.”

 

“Speaking of Bao, clean his litter box. Okay? Okay.”

 

***

“I’m cooking dinner lazy boy, run down stairs and get two, no, _three_ peppers. I’ll set you a plate when it’s done.”

 

“Change it to the history channel, there’s a show you might like on. It’s about aliens and ancient history. Crazy, I know, but maybe not to you.”

 

“ _Bèn dàn_ , do you have no socks without holes?”

 

***

Over the next two weeks, they began to settle into a routine: in the mornings, Mrs. Chen would ready herself and walk down stairs to open the shop for the before-work shoppers. Eddie would sleep in, and then begin to tidy up whatever he saw if he could. Sometimes he would just sit and stare, a clenching feeling in his chest overwhelming him, until Bao reminded him that the cat hadn’t eaten yet. Eventually Eddie would make his way downstairs, and try to make himself useful; he restocked shelves, cleaned, took inventory… it felt almost like he was sixteen again, working his first job.

 

In a way, it was nice. He felt useful. He felt needed, and that was– that was nice too. It felt good to be part of something again, even if he couldn’t be part of a hole.

 

“Eddie,” Mrs. Chen said, interrupting his chain of thought. “I’m going back upstairs, time to close. Are you coming too?”

 

“Oh, ah, no. It’s fine Mrs. Chen, I can close up the shop for you.” Mrs Chen gave Eddie a look, doubtful.

 

Eddie rolled his eyes. “I’ve worked in a shop before Lan, I know how closing goes.”

 

Mrs. Chen grinned. “Oh, so you work here now?”

 

Eddie felt his cheeks begin to pink. “I uh, I guess?” he said, his voice pitching high. _Oh god, please don’t throw me out._

 

Mrs. Chen only snorted. “You can work here Eddie, I don’t mind. Not as lazy as I thought you’d be, although my plants could use more watering.”

 

“What am I, your live-in maid?” he joked, relieved. The he paused. “Wait, am I your live-in maid?”

 

Mrs. Chen laughed, eyes crinkling when she smiled. “Maybe a little,” she said. “Now if you will excuse me, I am going to get started on a late dinner.” And with that, she was gone.

 

Smiling to himself, Eddie began to hum while he sweeped the floor. No cat hair here, but plenty of other nastiness that made him wrinkle his nose.

 

As always when he had free time, his mind drifted back to Venom, Riot, and the Life Foundation. Fuck, that whole thing was so fucked up, and yet part of him, part of him missed it desperately. Spy shit, car chases, _aliens_ , Annie, _his_ alien, abuse of power, cannibalism, Marie, Riot, corporate downfall– Eddie had _fucking died_ , and still–  

 

And still he missed Venom. He hadn’t deserved to die.

 

Sometimes Eddie wondered if he should try to go back to that beach, to search for a corpse, for _anything_ , but the place was swarming with FBI and SHIELD agents. He’d done enough research over his career to know not to fuck with either of those agencies, but he still felt like a goddamn coward for not trying.

 

He didn’t even want to go to court. The only way he’d joined the class action suit against the Life Foundation was because Annie had _forced_ him too,and he only agreed to that after she promised to take care of it all so he didn’t have to ‘relive the trauma.’

 

He wasn’t worried about that, not really. Sure, Eddie probably had PTSD, and he definitely got flashbacks, but he wasn’t scared to go to court. He was just so tired.

 

Not that any of that mattered. The Life Foundation settled out of court quickly, giving out a sizable payment to everyone who was hurt. They’d be doing a lot of that in the coming months.

 

Eddie wiped the sweat from his forehead, and looked around the store once more. It looked nice. It looked good.

 

When Eddie returned to his spot on the couch at 11:30pm after missing dinner, he found three new pairs of socks folded on the armrest. He was shocked to find himself crying.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, I’m Asian but not eastern. Also I don’t speak mandarin so hmu about mistakes. Also thank you to everyone who commented and left kudos! I love reading y’alls thoughts.
> 
> Here’s version 2.0 with grammar edits 
> 
> Also, Venom is coming back next chapter so :^)


	3. Stucco and Morter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mrs. Chen opens up emotionally, Eddie opens the store, Bao opens a door.

“Bao, no! Stop it!” Eddie wailed as the bald cat chased after him. Eddie skidded around the kitchen corner, his socks slipping on the linoleum, with the little monster hot on his heels.

 

“Please stop trying to bite me, I lost the neosporin and you have trash mouth,” he panted, kicking the chair legs as he clambered onto the bar stool. “You’d definitely give me an infection, like trench foot.” The cat scratched at his ankles, hissing.

 

“Bao, no! Fuck! The trench foot!”

 

“Language, Eddie.”

 

“Ah, shit! Mrs. Chen!”

 

Mrs. Chen gave him a judging look over her glasses. Eddie knew what he looked like, sitting awkwardly at the counter in his old tee shirt, boxers, and holey socks, and what he looked like was _rough_ . He scratched at his cheek and, yup, he also had definitely not shaved yet this morning. Or yesterday morning. Or the morning before that. _Real classy, Brock._

 

“Right,” Eddie coughed, “uh, sorry about that. Again.”

 

The cat wailed once more and Eddie scowled. In contrast, Mrs. Chen’s face split into a grin, and she knelt down to take the ugly cat into her arms. “ _Shǎ guā!_ ” she playfully scolded, “stop bullying Eddie!”

 

Eddie felt mildly offended, watching the cat melt into a purring heap on Mrs. Chen’s lap. It was her cat, but still. He’d lived here for nearly two months, he’d have thought the little shit would’ve warmed up to him by now.

 

It glared at Eddie while Mrs. Chen pet it, ignorant of the waves of malice the tiny bastard was giving off. Eddie glared back.

 

“Alright, there you go, you little _baby_ ,” Mrs. Chen said, smiling while she set the cat back on the floor. It harrumphed, and ran off. Turning back towards her unofficial roommate, Mrs. Chen watched Eddie rifle through the cabinets for a clean bowl and the cereal box.

 

“Eating dry cereal again, Eddie?” She said, unimpressed.

 

“I have depression, Lan,” he said, focusing as he poured the rest of the bran flakes into his bowl.

 

“Too much depression to get the milk from the fridge?”

 

“Way too much,” he agreed. “So much depression that I can’t even finish this conversation.”

 

“Or put on pants?” She asked.

 

Eddie look down at his underwear. It looked old, and gross. “Maybe pants,” he conceded.  

 

“I should hope so,” Mrs. Chen sniffed. “I need you downstairs to work a shift in forty; I’m going to the nice grocery a few blocks away to pick up things for dinner before I settle into the day.”

 

“Why’re ya goin’ to the bougie place? We have meat and vegetables in the shop,” Eddie said, chewing loudly.

 

“Not as good as the– what did you call it? _Bougie?_ The bougie store. I want everything perfect for tonight,” she said, her brow crinkling.

 

“Right, remind me again about tonight?”

 

Mrs. Chen sighed, pinching her forehead. “Company, Eddie. I have special company coming over tonight. I’ve been telling you this all week, were you listening at all?”

 

“Of course!” Eddie said quickly. “I just couldn’t remember if that was today or tomorrow.” He quickly took another bite of cereal to shut himself up. _Christ_ , he thought, _I used to be so good with words. What the fuck ever happened to me?_

 

Eddie mentally shook himself. He couldn’t keep losing himself during conversations, that’s how he kept missing important information. He was a reporter once, goddamnit, listening to people was supposed to be his job!

 

“Eddie? Hey, Eddie!”

 

–And if he couldn’t even do his job right, then what use was he? He’d given up everything for his job, and then he’d fucking lost it. Then when he got a second chance at the story of a lifetime, of aliens and widespread corporate corruption, he’d lost his, his new, his… his friend? Right, his friend. His friend died, and he couldn’t even tell anyone because he was so fucked up after it all that he did whatever Anne told him to do, which included signing a nondisclosure agreement with the Life Foundation for a shit-ton of blood money–

 

“Eddie! _Oh my God,_ everything I have to do myself.”

 

–Someday, someday soon, he’d break that contract. Return the money, or at least donate a good chunk of it to charity, once his assets were unfrozen. He’d write the best fucking expose of his life, really _dig his heel_ in the face of the Life Foundation. Of course, first he’d have to start writing again. He hasn’t written anything in a long time.

 

“Why don’t I write anymore?” Eddie wondered aloud.

 

“Eddie, I don’t understand why you do half the things you do. It’s not my job. My job is to tell you to do _your_ job, which is to open the store, and to fold your couch blankets.”

 

“I already did that,” he said, preoccupied.

 

“Then open the store for me! Please,” Mrs. Chen snapped.

 

Eddie flinched. “Sorry, I will, I promise.”

 

Mrs. Chen let out a deep sigh, and leaned against the doorframe. “No, I’m sorry, Eddie. I’m just a little stressed right now. I’m… well, honestly, I’m a bit nervous about tonight.”

 

“Got a big date?” Eddie joked awkwardly. Mrs. Chen blinked, and then slowly, Eddie watched in horror as her cheeks began to pink. She quickly turned around, and began to straighten up things in the kitchen that very obviously didn’t need straightening as to distract herself.

 

“Oh my god,” Eddie breathed, “do you actually have a date?”

 

“Wh– yes, of course I have a date! I have a– a _long term partner_ , thank you very much, and tonight’s our two year anniversary!” Mrs. Chen said, her embarrassment obvious. “Old folks can still _date_ , you know!”

 

“I know! I know that,” Eddie squawked, trying and failing to regain his composure. “I just! I didn’t know you _were_ dating anyone, that’s all!”

 

“Well, I am!” She shouted, face burning.

 

“That’s great!” Eddie yelled back, scared and confused.

 

“I know!”

 

“I’m happy for you!”

 

“Thank you!”

 

A tense silence followed their shouting match before Mrs. Chen slowly began to laugh, with Eddie joining a beat later. “Oh my God,” she groaned.

 

“I know,” he said, slightly hysterical. “I just– _God_ , yeah, I know,” he laughed.

 

“This is all so _weird_ ,” she whined, face behind her hands. “When did our lives get so weird?”

 

“Jesus, I think I ask myself that everyday,” Eddie said, grinning. This time, the following quiet felt comfortable. Warm, almost.

 

It was nice. Eddie’s smile felt nice, stretching across his cheeks. Slowly, Mrs. Chen dropped her hands from her face to look back at Eddie.

 

“You must think me strange, not telling you about my… about my partner,” Mrs. Chen said hesitantly.

 

“Nah, it’s okay. I get it; somethings are so important you don’t feel like you can tell anyone about them,” Eddie responded, his smile fading, but face still kind.

 

“Hm, I guess,” Mrs. Chen said.

 

“Um,” Eddie said, trying to find the right words, “if you don’t mind me asking, uh, why haven’t I seen or heard about them?”

 

Mrs. Chen cocked her head, taking in her roommate: his messiness, the lines on his face, the bags under his eyes, and the way his hand gripped his spoon too tight. She must have seen something she trusted in all that, because for the first time in months, she found herself wanting to open up to someone other than her lover. So she did.

 

“Eddie?” Mrs. Chen said softly.

 

“Yes?” Eddie said, just as quietly.

 

“You know how you think because I am old, I don’t understand how to use the computer, so you don’t usually clear your search history?”

 

Eddie’s eyes widened.

 

“Well,” she continued, “I do actually know how to use it; my eldest taught me awhile back. And while I think those websites are gross, and you should _really_ use a personal computer for that–”

 

“It was only once!” Eddie squawked. “I only did that _one time_ , and I was pretty drunk, so _really_ –”

 

“Shut! Up! Please, Eddie, I like having you around, so please do _not_ finish that sentence. For my sake. Anyway,” Mrs. Chen said, settling into her story, “I saw… _that_ , and as uncomfortable as it was, it… it let me know that you were like, you were like… me,” she said, shakily.

 

Confused, Eddie’s brow crinkled. “You… also watch gay porn?” he asked.

 

“No! Oh my God, you’re so _fucking dumb sometimes_ – I’m a lesbian, you idiot!”

 

“Oh!” Eddie yelped.

 

“Yeah, _oh_ ,” Mrs. Chen said, mockingly. Then she sighed, looking uncomfortable again. “I mean, I’m older than you, by a lot. I didn’t know, when I was your age. I knew once I was twenty years into my marriage, sure, but what was I supposed to do? We had children, Eddie. I couldn’t leave.”

 

“I’m sorry,” he said, honestly.

 

“Me too,” she said quietly. “I loved my husband, but not in the way a wife should love the man she has children with. We never had that ‘spark.’ He was kind, kinder than my father was to my mother, and I thought that was enough.”

 

Mrs. Chen looked away. “It wasn’t.”

 

Eddie nodded, unsure what to say.

 

“He died ten years ago, car crash. I never told him, and if he had survived, I never would have. I would have stayed by his side forever, because that’s what I promised.” Mrs. Chen looked back to Eddie, her eyes wet, but hard. “But he did die. And we– our little family, we mourned him, but time stops for no man, and in time, you begin to forget the– the _ache_ of missing someone.” She paused, thinking. “Or at the very least, it dulls.”

 

Eddie bit his lip, nodding again. Two months isn’t ten years, but it was time, and– well. He didn’t want to finish that thought.

 

“So I met someone. I never planned on it, I never wanted to want a woman like that, but I did, and I do, and I’m– now I’m so glad she’s here,” Mrs. Chen said, voice breaking. “I want her to know how glad I am that she’s here.”

 

Fuck, now Eddie’s eyes were wet. “Thank you for telling me about her.”

 

Mrs. Chen gave a short, surprised laugh. “Happy to. I don’t get to talk about her often; we have to keep it secret, almost. Her family can’t know, and mine?”

 

Mrs. Chen looked imploringly at Eddie. “I just– my children, they don’t like Marilag. And I love her, _I love her so much_ , but– well. It’s hard.”

 

“Marilag?”

 

“Yes,” Mrs. Chen said hotly, “Her name is Marilag. It’s Tagalog, means beautiful.”

 

“And is she?” Eddie asked.

 

“How could she not be?” Mrs. Chen said. “I love her. Of course she is beautiful to me.”

 

Eddie stood up, and roughly dragged Mrs. Chen into a hug. They made quite a pair: a little old lady, not even 5”2, and a tall, sweaty, sad looking man, both gripping each other as fiercely as they could.

 

“I love her,” Lan said, feeling like a small child again. “I love her, I love her.”

 

Eddie gripped Lan tighter still.

 

***

Mrs. Chen had made him coffee before she left for the morning. Slumped against the store counter, Eddie breathed in the steam, content. The thermos warmed his hands.

 

He liked San Francisco, liked how the ocean kept the city from ever getting too hot or too cold, but he still couldn’t help but wax nostalgic about winters in New York City. He’d lived there for so long, started a career there, had friends and mentors. He’d moved three years ago to the West Coast when Anne got a job offer she couldn’t refuse, and Eddie managed to score a spot on the investigative team of a local news team. It was no San Francisco Chronicles, but it was his. He made it his, and for a few months, he was even on TV. A news anchor! His old college buddies would've had a laugh about that.

 

Thinking back on it, they were right to laugh. Eddie Brock had always worked better behind the scenes, not in front of the camera. Not that he couldn’t, but, well. Just look at how his show ended.

 

Hearing the bell ring, Eddie looked up towards the shop door. An old man, obviously homeless, dragged himself in. He looked half dead. Suddenly, Eddie was uncomfortably reminded what could have happened to him if Mrs. Chen hadn’t taken him in. He’d lost his apartment, all his shit, and his bank account was frozen until everything with the Life Foundation was sorted out, or at least, was started to get sorted out. _Fuck_ , he thought. _That’s heavy._

 

Eddie took a long drink of his coffee, and briefly longed for something stronger. The stranger hobbled towards the counter.

 

“Hey,” Eddie said, warily. “Can I… help you with anything?”

 

The stranger only stared back, eyes glassy and intense. _Must be one hell of a high,_ Eddie thought to himself. His eyes followed the lines of the other man’s face, taking in the details: the dirt caked in his wrinkles, his unwashed hair, hanging in clumps. The sunburn stretching across his cheeks. The– sand? Gravel? In his beard. All of this together sent shiver of apprehension to run down Eddie’s spine.

 

Something was very wrong here.

 

Shifting uncomfortably, Eddie repeated himself: “Sir? Sir, can help you?”

 

Silence.

 

“Can I… should I– do you want me to call someone? Anyone?”

 

A beat, the: “Bathroom.”

 

“What?” Eddie said, confused.

 

“Bathroom,” the stranger said gruffly, breaking eye contact to look at his shoes. “I need the bathroom key.”

 

Wordlessly, Eddie handed it over. The stranger grunted, and shambled off towards the back of the store. Eddie looked away.

 

“Eddie!” Mrs. Chen said, pushing open the door. “Eddie, I’m back! I’m going to– _ugh, these are heavy_ – I’m going to put these away upstairs, then I can take over for a bit,” she said, struggling with her bags.

 

“Lan, hold on, let me get that,” Eddie said, the stranger forgotten. Quickly, he maneuvered himself around the counter to take up all the groceries. “Get the door for me?” he asked from behind the bags.

 

“Of course!” Mrs. Chen chirped, letting him in to the second floor stairwell. “And thank you so much for– BAO!” she yelled as the cat dashed past.

 

“Fuck!” Eddie shouted, pushing the bags back into Mrs. Chen’s arms. “Wait, no _fuck_ –” he hissed, his fingers just missing the ugly little things hide.

 

“Eddie!” Mrs. Chen shrieked.

 

“I’ll get it– I’ll get him, no problem Lan!” he yelled, running around the shelves in a much more panicked reversal of the chasing game he and Bao had played earlier.

 

He was so close– if he could just move a little faster, he could catch the little bastard, and get on with his day. Circling back to the front of the store, Eddie watched in horror as a new customer approached the door.

 

“No!” Eddie screamed, but it was too late: the cat was out of the Stop & Shop.

 

“What?” the young techie who’d opened the door said just as Mrs. Chen shrieked “BAO!”

 

“Move!” Eddie snarled, pushing the kid out of the way and shoving himself out into the street. Panting, Eddie whipped his head back and forth. “Motherfucking _pest_ ,” he hissed, before– Aha! A tail!

 

Eddie ran around the corner into the alley way, following the tip of Bao’s bald tail, but he was nowhere to be seen.

 

“Bao?” He called out, confused. “Bao?”

 

Nothing.

 

Eddie began to walk around the alley, his movements slow and telegraphed so as not to scare the smaller animal. He peaked in between stinking garbage bags, opened dumpsters, looked behind an abandoned couch, and still nothing.

 

“Fuck,” he hissed softly. “Fuck, fuck, _fuck_.”

 

The sound of halting footsteps interrupted Eddie’s panic attack. Turning around, Eddie found himself face-to-face with the homeless man from the store again. “Oh,” he said. “It’s you again.”

 

“ **It is** ,” the man agreed with a growl.

 

Eddie frowned. He remembered the other man’s voice being rough before, but that was more of a _I-smoke-two-packs-a-day_ rough, not _childhood-nightmare_ rough. The other man took a step forward. Eddie took a step back.

  
“ **We’ve been looking for you. Were you looking for us?** ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im a lesbian and part SE Asian and decided on a whim the world needed more of that, so here we are :P lmk if you catch any errors, I’ll go back over this again soon. Also, thank you for all the kudos and bookmarks and love!!! I go nuts for comments. I know I don’t always respond, but I do always read every single one of them, so thank you so much <333


	4. Well-loved Linoleum

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eddie and venom and have a talk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is unbeta’d so expect a grammar update soon lol. I just wanted to put this out there while it was fresh.

It’s embarrassing how long it takes Eddie to get it.

 

“Look man, I’m sorry. I can’t help you right now; I’m looking for the world’s shittiest cat,” Eddie said, annoyed. “If you have a problem with the the bathroom, or the store, or anything in it, just head back inside and we’ll deal with it in a sec,” he continued, beginning to turn and resume his search.

 

The other man stayed still, obviously not expecting to be brushed off, before shaking off his shock and yelling, “ **No!** ” in a panic. “ **No, don’t leave us!** ”

 

Eddie took in a deep, exasperated breath. _Why is this city always like this,_ he thought before facing the homeless man again. “ _Dude._ I’m sorry; I’m on break. I’m on break and I’m _really fucking busy right now_ so if you could just–”

 

“ **No, no!** ” He wailed again, wringing his hands. “ **No, you can’t leave us! Please, please don’t leave us Eddie; we went looking for you, need you!** ” The man began to stumble forward, not so much stepping closer but throwing himself forward instinctively, gloved hands reaching out for a frozen Eddie.

“ **Need you, need you Eddie** ,” he chanted desperately as Eddie started to retreat.

 

Eddie felt his heart jump to his throat as he began to slowly back away, his hands raised halfway up in surrender. “I’m uh– I don’t, uh, I really don’t understand what’s going on right now.”

 

The other man hissed as he pushed Eddie backwards, his strange, clipped movements distracting him until Eddie’s back hit the alley wall. “Oh fuck,” he breathed.

 

“ **Oh fuck** ,” the other repeated nastily. Nose to nose, the smell of blood and rot was overwhelming. Eddie shivered.

 

“ **Where were you?** ” the man asked, eyes narrowed. “ **We couldn't find you when we woke up, couldn’t find Anne.** ”

 

“What do you mean?” Eddie questioned, barely able to hear himself over the sound of his pulse.

 

“ **After the fire!** ” the man said frustrated, mouth an unhappy slash. “ **Couldn’t find you, or Anne, or even that shitty doctor friend of hers!** ”

 

“Boyfriend,” Eddie corrected unthinkingly, still frozen in place. “Dan’s her boyfriend.”

 

“ **We don’t care!** ” the homeless man yelled, throwing his arms up into the air. “ **We thought we were** **_going to die_** **, and when we woke up alive, you weren’t there, and we were** **_all alone_** **!** ” he wailed, black beginning to pour out from under his clothes to twist around his arms.

 

His face a mask of anguish, the man fisted his hands in Eddie’s jacket lapels, yanking him closer still. “ **You left us there!** ” he wailed. “ **Why would you leave us there?** ”

 

Finally catching on, Eddie’s eyes widened. “Venom?” he whispered. The symbiote shrieked, and then slammed his head against Eddie’s chest, pressing himself as close as he could. “Oh God,” Eddie whispered.

 

“I’m sorry,” Eddie said, shakily running his fingers down the symbiote’s back while he trembled in his arms. “I’m so sorry, oh god, I– V, I’m so sorry. _Christ_.”

 

“ **Eddie** ,” Venom mumbled into Eddie’s shirt, “ **Eddie, we want to go home.** ”

 

“It’s okay, I’ve got you, I’m here now,” Eddie soothed in an uneven voice. “I wasn’t there before, but I— oh Jesus Christ V, I’m so sorry I wasn’t there before,” and hell, were his eyes wet? Eddie tucked his chin on top of Venom’s head, ignoring the way his wool cap reeked, and held him.

 

“Fuck man,” he said with a shudder. “I thought you died, but I never— I should have gone back to the beach, should have searched the city harder, and I am so, so sorry. I’m never gonna stop being sorry for that.”

 

“ **Good,** ” Venom said, before lowering his voice. “ **We couldn’t find you, and we thought that maybe, maybe you did not want us anymore.** ”

 

Eddie didn’t need to be connected to the symbiote to feel the waves of vulnerability coming off Venom, but. Well, he wanted to.

 

Eddie let out a watery laugh. “Are you kidding? I’ve been a mess without you! I didn’t know what to do; ask Mrs. Chen,” he said with a snort. “I pretty much slept on her couch without doing jackshit for a week after the fire and losing my apartment.” Closing his eyes, he continued, “I didn’t feel whole anymore. I missed you.”

 

“ **Missed you too** ,” Venom admitted, as if it wasn’t obvious. “ **Take us home?** ” he asked. “ **We want to go home**.”

 

“I can’t, V,” Eddie sighed. “Those Life Foundation thugs destroyed my apartment. I live with Mrs. Chen now, and holy shit, how am I supposed to explain us to her?”

 

“ **Don’t care** ,” Venom repeated. “ **Want to go home, be whole again.** ”

 

Blinking his eyes open, Eddie looked down, and— oh. The old man’s face had disappeared, replaced by the liquid matte face of his other. Shiny white eyes looked up at him, with inky black vines twisting around Eddie’s body.

 

He hadn’t even noticed.

 

“Oh. Oh, you meant— home.” Face breaking out into a grin, Eddie leaned back against the alley wall to trace a dark tentacle wrapped around his left arm, and laughed. “Yeah, c’mon back home buddy.”

 

Eddie felt more than he heard Venom purr, and before he could laugh again, the symbiote was rushing into him, filling his pores with ink and intent. The alien spread itself thin under Eddie’s skin, doing his best to curl around Eddie’s every cell to mark them as his own. Eddie was only half aware of Venoms old host’s corpse falling to the ground, focused instead on the feeling of being part of something again. Pleased at that thought, Eddie felt Venom wriggle in excitement, and shivered at the sensation.

 

“ **You’ll get used to it** ,” Venom purred, rumbling loudly in his chest. Eddie pressed his hands against the flat bone and muscle above his heart, overwhelmed by the strange fluttering he could feel stroking the organ. It felt like his whole body was buzzing, causing him to curl his toes and flex his fingers, almost panting. Venom purred stronger as Eddie moved more, adjusting again to his interstellar roommate.

 

Fuck, he felt unstoppable, like he could race across the entirety of the city, leaping off buildings and hills and cliffs. Venom hummed in agreement.

 

**We can do whatever we want** , he growled lazily against Eddie’s mind before pausing. **Although running across the city for no reason sounds kind of dumb**. Eddie laughed again.

 

“Maybe, but shit, who cares? We’re back; I can’t believe we’re back,” he said, breathing heavy as he tipped his head to the sky. He couldn’t stop smiling.

 

Eddie felt his arms wrap around himself without his prompting, and relaxed into the symbiote’s hold. “I’m so glad we’re back,” he breathed. His arms squeezed him gently in response, and Eddie sighed, closing his eyes again. “Never leaving you again,” he promised.

 

**Wasn’t going to let you** , Venom thundered in his brain, squeezing Eddie tighter. **Never separating again**. A more rational person would have been scared by that, but well, Eddie had always been a bit codependent and clingy, so he grinned viciously instead.

 

“Mm, no, never,” he said easy, eyes half lidded, “not letting anything get between us ever again.”

 

**And if they try, we tear them to pieces with our teeth?**

 

“Of course darling,” Eddie said, still high off their reunion. “Teeth and claws, V, teeth and claws.” Venom let out a pleased rumble, loud enough that Eddie didn’t hear the smack of flats against the concrete.

 

“Eddie!” Mrs. Chen said, excited as she turned the corner into the mouth of the alley. “I found Bao! He must have run back inside after you came around back, and– what the fuck?!” she said, finishing her sentence with a shriek.

 

Coming back to himself, Eddie looked down at his feet, and— oh. That was a dead homeless man at his feet. Shit. He felt Venom beginning to rise against his skin, and swallowed hard.

 

***

“Eddie, you are really making me start to regret letting you into my home,” the woman– Mrs. Chen, or Lan, Eddie called her?– said, rubbing her temples. It was nearly four hours later, and they were finally ready to decompress.

 

“I’m sorry Mrs. Chen,” Eddie said, wincing. “I swear, I was just about to call the police when he fell on me.”

 

Eddie was nervous. Venom could taste the bitter of it in his neurons, feel the sweat slowly dripping down his back, how Eddie wrung their hands.

 

Eddie was lying too, not that Venom cared. He could tell the old woman whatever he liked to get them out of the spotlight, although Venom found it all a bit convoluted. Why bother trying to talk their way out of trouble when they could simply eat the source of their displeasure?

 

_We’re not eating Mrs. Chen!_ Eddie hissed in their shared mind space. _She’s my friend, and the reason we have a place to sleep!_

 

**We could sleep anywhere,** Venom said with a huff. **And we’re hungry. It was hard to keep that host going as long as we did. It was weak, and a poor match.**

 

He could tell Eddie wanted to sigh, exasperated, but was holding it in to not confuse the old woman sitting across from them. _I will feed you as soon as this is all sorted out_ , he promised.

 

“Boy, I thought you’d killed that man when I came out there!”

 

“I didn’t kill him!” Eddie yelped. “He had– he had like, a heart attack or something. Just came up, mumbled some weird shit and cornered me while I was lookin’ for the cat, and fucking died.”

 

The woman scowled at Eddie, making Venom curl protectively around his organs. **Don’t like this, Eddie** , he murmured. **Besides, would never let anything harm you. Would have gotten us out of this situation too, if you had let us take over earlier.** Eddie flinched.

 

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to uh, be so crass. Respect for the dead and all, but it really was a shitty way to start the morning,” he said, scratching the back of his head.

 

Mrs. Chen snorted. “Not my ideal morning either,” she said, “not that it's even that anymore.” After calling the cops and EMTs, and dealing with the bureaucracy that came with them, it was well afternoon– early evening, almost.

 

“Sorry,” Eddie said again, sheepish.

 

**Stop saying sorry** , Venom grumbled. **She doesn’t know it’s our fault, and you’re making us look weak**.

 

“It’s not weak to apologize for things,” Eddie said, making a face.

 

“I know?” Mrs. Chen said, confused.

 

“Sorry, lot on my mind,” Eddie said, scratching his head again. _Fuck._

 

“Yes, I suppose so,” Mrs. Chen said, folding her hands over her lap. The three of them were sitting in what Eddie said was their new home, an apartment above a store full of food they weren’t allowed to eat, which Venom thought was bullshit. He took a moment to savor in his own discontent before tuning back into the conversation Eddie was having with Mrs. Chen, who he said had been his ‘roommate’ while Venom was gone.

 

Venom _supposed_ she had done well looking after his host while he was… _impaired_ , but that wouldn’t be necessary any longer. Venom could look after Eddie plenty well on his own, thank you very much.

 

“–so take some time for yourself tonight, go on a walk maybe. Call up some friends, meet them out for dinner!”

 

“I don’t exactly have a lot of friends anymore, Lan.”

 

“Not with that attitude you don’t.”

 

Eddie shifted in his chair, uncomfortable. “Maybe I will just walk in the park; it’s been awhile since I went to Boeddeker anyway.”

 

“Mm, just don’t get too friendly with the folk that walk there at night. I don’t want to have to deal with two deaths today; Lord knows I already have enough new gossip to catch Marilag up on tonight,” Mrs. Chen said. Eddie tried for an awkward smile, but had a feeling it might have just come out as a grimace.

 

Venom rushed under the skin of Eddie’s face, making him blink rapidly. **You are definitely grimacing,** he noted.

 

“Well yeah, now I am!” he said, wrinkling his nose. Mrs. Chen looked on at them in confusion, and Eddie felt his cheeks pink. **Now we are embarrassed.**

 

_Yeah buddy, we sure are_.

 

“Sor– I uh, again, ha! Weird day. I think maybe I’ll just, um, I’ll just go out for a jog right now, and see where I end up from there,” Eddie said, tripping over his own feet as he tried to disentangle himself physically and emotionally from the conversation. “I’ll just! Get changed now! Ha!”

 

“...Right,” Mrs. Chen said, slowly getting up from her chair herself. “You do that. I’m going to start cooking for tonight. And Eddie?” She said, looking back at him as he frantically tried to pull an old, unused pair of running shorts out of the laundry pile, “Try to have fun. I worry about you.”

 

Venom felt warmth spread through their shared chest, softer than the sting of embarrassment. Eddie smiled. “I know, but it’ll be okay.”

 

***

**Getting more food now, Eddie?**

 

“Yeah buddy, we sure are,” Eddie said, throwing away the last Wendy's wrapper as he walked by the public trash can. “What do we want next?”

 

**Something living, nothing dead. No more dead meat!**

 

“We can’t just _eat_ people, V,” Eddie said, sighing. He felt Venom twist inside him in frustration.

 

It was disturbing to Eddie, how quickly they were falling back into old patterns. He and Venom had only been reunited for a couple of hours, and already they were back to familiar arguments and haunts. Still, nothing felt quite the same. Their banter had a tense edge too it, like they were both waiting for the other shoe to drop, and Venom seemed to be holding him a bit tighter than he remembered him doing before, well, everything.

 

Eddie wrapped his arms around his chest. **Then what are we supposed to do? We need food to keep us strong, to keep us together!**

 

Eddie held himself a little closer. “Not going anywhere, V,” he reminded him. “We’ll just have to find another way. I mean, you survived without eating human heads before you came to Earth, so. Yeah! Another way,” Eddie rambled.

 

**Don’t need another way when we already have one that works** , Venom argued, shifting uneasily under Eddie’s skin. **Besides, we like eating heads. They’re crunchy, then soft. Taste good.**

 

“ _We_ don’t like eating heads,” Eddie corrected, “ _you_ do. And wait– before you say anything, just wait–” he said, feeling his other’s growing agitation, “I’m not say that we can’t be, ugh, _together_ because of this, just that we’re in a, y’know, partnership. Symbiosis, right?”

 

Venom grumbled his agreement through Eddie’s head. He grinned.

 

“Right, so a partnership! Those are built on communication, and trust, and compromise!” Eddie said, emphasizing wildly with his hands. Venom did his best to listen while his host went on and on, espousing the aspects and benefits of a healthy relationship, but frankly it was hard to focus. It was also very obvious that Eddie was quoting something that he had read rather than his own thoughts, further convincing Venom that the conversation didn’t matter.

 

He didn’t understand why it had to be so complicated. They were back together! After searching and searching the city for months, hopping host to unsuitable host in pursuit of him, Venom had found Eddie. Did Eddie not want to be found?

 

“V, no, of course I… fuck. Okay, you’re right. We gotta have this talk, don’t we?” Eddie said, kicking a stray piece off trash as he walked. It was getting dark, but the park’s street lamps had yet to come. Hopefully no one would bother them, not that Eddie had seen many people out tonight.

 

**We are back. We missed you** , **and we were scared, but we’re back now** , Venom said, shifting. **We don’t understand why we still feel…** ” Venom stopped, unsure of the word.

 

“Anxious?” Eddie tried. Venom simply hummed in response.

 

**We should be fine. We are safe, okay now. So why do we still feel bad?**

 

Eddie sighed, and leaned against an unlit lamp post. “Well, that whole thing between us and Riot and the Life Foundation was pretty traumatic, Venom. We’re gonna be feeling the effects of that for awhile.”

 

**But it’s over now!** Venom said loudly, frustrated. Eddie winced at his volume, and his partner tried to lower it. **Shouldn’t be thinking about it, but we are. You are, in the back of your mind.**

 

Venom growled, frustrated. **This dumb. You are making us feel dumb, Eddie.**

 

Eddie touched his wrist, lightly, and was surprised when black goo bubbled up from his skin to meet him, to twist around his fingers. He rubbed his thumb long the surface, and let Venom continue.

 

**Want to go back to before we fought Riot, right before, when everything was good.**

 

“But everything was not good then, V. I mean, we were working together well, but also the world was about to end and you accidentally ate my internal organs.”

 

**Would never do that again!** Venom protested, causing Eddie to snort. **We understand humans more now. Will never hurt Eddie, only protect.**

 

Eddie smiled sadly. “I know V, I know. But we can’t just pick up where we left off,” he said, scrunching his eyebrows together. “Things are different now, and that’s hard, but it’s also okay. We’re gonna be okay, but to get to that future point where we’re okay, we gotta deal with all that shit that’s built up from the past first, and keep goin’ in the present.”

 

Venom was quiet, but continued to let Eddie pet the thin thread he had exposed to the world and wrapped around his wrist. **You died** , Venom said. Eddie nodded. **We did not… I did not like seeing you die.**

 

“I didn’t like when I thought you had died either, Venom. I’m so fuckin’ glad you’re alive, and here, and shit, this is really happening huh?” Eddie said, starting to laugh again.

 

Venom was confused by this action, but happy that Eddie was happy. He leaned into his endorphins, and let more of himself curl around Eddie’s hand.

 

**Glad you are alive too,** he admitted. **And that we are here, together. Always together, right Eddie?** he said, and if Eddie felt a touch of the symbiote’s nervousness, he chose to ignore it.

 

“Of course, Venom. Now let’s work together and lay down some ground rules on the walk home.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bitch got a writing tumblr now. Hmu at warbles80hd; I mostly post about comic books and girls and gay shit. 
> 
> Next chapter will involve V and Eddie getting used to each other again, dealing with more emotional stuff, and learning how to get along with Mrs. Chen and the cat.
> 
> Also this fic will take the comics approach of “Eddie doesn’t eat people!!” but I’ll probs write another fic sometime when they do. Also next time I write a fic I’ll probs use they/them for V bc why not?


	5. A Plastic-Paneled Starter House

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter Mrs. Chen had a date, and Eddie and Venom talked about their time apart. Now they continue their conversation on communication and bounderies, and how to move forward from here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> UGH this chapter took forever bc life and also bc this chapter would not just fucking end bc she had a lot to say. I’m happy to update again and loved every comment I received in between this chapter and the last

“So first off: no eating people. I refuse to believe that the only way for you to get the nutrients you need is to eat my neighbor’s brains.”

 

 **Doesn’t have to be neighbors, Eddie** , Venom whined. **Can be anybody! Just bad people, if you want!**

 

“What I really want is to not eat anyone, V,” Eddie said, his mouth a thin slash. Venom huffed.

 

 **An hour ago you were very interested in “compromise and communication” when it benefited you**. Eddie felt his cheeks pink. Fuck, he didn’t think V would flip the script on him like that. He opened and closed his mouth a few times before taking a deep breath and continuing again.

 

“We are comprising and communicating to find something that benefits the both of us,” Eddie said without stumbling. Thank God he took all those speech and debate classes in college. “I really, really need to not be a cannibal; you really, really need a certain chemical that’s in human brains and hard to find in other animals, yeah? We’ll find a way.”

 

Venom grumbled, but Eddie could tell he was starting to relent; he just needed a final push. Eddie steeled himself, and said: “If we really need that chemical or whatever before we can find a replacement, we can eat a _very bad guy_ only if we _absolutely need to._ Okay?”

 

Venom sighed. **Okay, Eddie. Compromise.**

 

“Compromise,” he agreed. “Also, we need to be careful when you manifest and when I answer out loud.”

 

**Duh.**

 

“Yeah, yeah; I figured you already knew that, but I thought it was worth saying anyway. I’ll probably need to start wearing earbuds or whatever if talking during our runs is gonna become regular.”

 

Eddie’s symbiote hummed in response. His grip on Eddie was beginning to loosen, becoming more comfortable, and Eddie was very much enjoying leaning back into it. Fuck, he was getting distracted.

 

“And no uh, no threatening to eat Mrs. Chen or her cat. The cat’s a little shit head, but Mrs. Chen loves him and we owe Lan a lot, so y’know. Don’t hurt our roommates.”

 

 **Roommates?** Venom rumbled, snapping out of his reverie. **We’re going to stay with the old woman and her ugly little beast?**

 

“Well, at least for a little while, yeah,” Eddie said, fumbling. He felt the hair on his arms raise and his shoulders involuntarily tense.

 

 **We don’t want to be roommates!** Venom yelled. **We want to be us!**

 

“We’ll still be us V, we’ll just have to–”

 

 **To hide?** Venom growled. Eddie was quiet. **Eddie, we don’t want to hide. We want–** a barrage of feelings, sights, sounds, light, love, pain; an overwhelming sensory overload was thrown Eddie’s way. He gripped the sides of his skull as he struggled to put together exactly what his symbiote wanted in between the splitting headache that was wrapping around his brain.

 

The pain did not leave as quick as it had come. Venom hastily tried to chase the headache away, but fuck if the reverberations weren’t echoing against his skull. Heart still jackrabbiting, Eddie slowly came back to himself. He was sitting with his head between his legs, drenched in sweat, cowering by the edge of the sidewalk. His senses- his _actual, real senses_ \- hazily came back into focus until his ears popped, and he could hear Venoms loud, panicky warbles.

 

**Sorry Eddie, sorry, didn’t mean to, was only trying to–**

 

“V. Venom, buddy, I love you, but I’m gonna need you to turn the volume down,” he groaned into his hands. Venom rippled under his skin.

 

**Sorry Eddie.**

 

“It’s okay.”

 

**Was only trying to show you something.**

 

“I know.”

 

**Didn’t mean to hurt you.**

 

“I know, V, I know.”

 

Eddie felt a phantom sensation against the back of his neck; it was almost like an invisible kitten head butting the top of his spine. Eddie let out a huff of laughter.

 

“We’re good V; it’s all good. We’re both still just a little wired from earlier, is all. We'll get some food– fresh meat from the sea, maybe, and then a little something for me– and then we’ll go back and sleep at Mrs. Chen’s place. We can talk about what comes next after that, okay?” Eddie asked.

 

The continued rubbing of the ghost-kitten was answer enough. Eddie felt a tired smile tug at his lips. Fuck, he’d missed this.

 

***

They got home late, long after Mrs. Chen had gone asleep. Together they noiselessly padded into the living room, and made a nest out of well-worn pillows and blankets. Eddie tucked his limbs tightly around himself, and was rewarded when Venom squeezed back. Lazy contentment rolled off his partner in waves, and for the first time in a long time, Eddie Brock fell asleep feeling completely and utterly at peace.

 

***

“Bao, move goddamnit. I’ve gotta piss,” Eddie grumbled, still half asleep and achy. Venom watched curiously as the wrinkly cat hissed back at them, his ears pressed flat against his head.

 

The little creature had hated his presence in Eddie’s body even more than he’d hated Eddie himself, which, according to Eddie’s memories, was really saying something. They’d remained with the hairless thing and the old woman for the past two months despite Eddie promising they could get their own place soon. Whenever Venom questioned him on this, Eddie always managed to wriggle away with some half-assed explanation regarding bills and rent control and job security, but it was the underlying emotions of the conversation that worried him.

 

Every time Venom brought up leaving Mrs. Chen’s with Eddie, a little spike of guilt and fear would pierce their stomach before he hurriedly buried somewhere deeper which Venom could not access. It made Venom feel… frustrated, but also ashamed. But it was fine. Totally fine! Eddie didn’t want to share this with him, and with things still so delicate after their recent reunion, Venom was unwilling to push. He couldn’t bring himself upend the fragile balancing act of their bond that he and Eddie were slowly strengthening together just because of a few brief feelings of distress. And sure, the fact that Eddie so obviously didn’t want Venom to notice them probably meant that these emotions were important and should definitely be something they talked about, and maybe the fact that Eddie felt he had to hide something important from Venom hurt, just a bit, and him feel like a useless parasite that was a drain on their host, but! But they knew they had a penchant to act, as Eddie put it, “like a drama queen,” so it was probably. Fine.

 

Eddie was good. If Eddie thought keeping a secret was good, then it was good. If Eddie didn’t trust him, then that meant Venom was bad, but if he listened to Eddie, then he could be good too.

 

Destroying the world was bad. Eating heads was bad. Everything Venom had spent his whole life believing was right and correct had turned out wrong, so obviously his moral compass was a bit broken. Eddie liked to say he did everything wrong too, but Eddie saved his everyone on his planet without them even knowing while Venom betrayed his entire race. Eddie gave them chocolate while Venom gave him hunger pains. Eddie gave change to Maria. Venom killed her.

 

So yeah, Venom definitely understood why Eddie didn’t fully trust him. But goddamnit, Venom wanted to do better, wanted to _be_ better, for Eddie, and how was he supposed to do that if Eddie never gave him a chance to try?

 

Did he… did he not deserve a chance to try?

 

Venom watched, silent and thinking, as Eddie took them through the rest of their morning routine. He watched him as he brushed their teeth, washed their face, dressed their now-scarred body, and ached. Venom was home, but he couldn’t show himself because it would scare their roommate. Venom had Eddie, but at the same time, he didn’t.

 

The cat hissed at them as they walked by with a water can. Venom felt their plasma spike under their skin, making Eddie flinch. Fuck.

 

“Everything okay, Eddie?” asked the old woman from behind her newspaper, and Venom was filled with resentment just as Eddie was overcome with warmth. The dual sensation was dizzying.

 

“Ah, yeah, totally cool Mrs. Chen, real peachy. Just got a little, uh, surprised by the cat is all,” Eddie said, absentmindedly rubbing their arm to try and rid their body of goosebumps. The old woman pursed her lips.

 

“I… okay, Eddie. Don’t know why he’s been so mean to you lately; I would have thought he’d warm up to you by now,” she said, concerned.

 

Eddie faked a laugh. “Ah well, you know how cats are. Fickle little things always asking for attention, and then turning their butt to you when you try to scratch them on the back.” Mrs. Chen laughed.

 

Bao reminded Eddie of someone else, and Venom felt himself bristle with the comparison.

 

 **We are not like the little house pest!** he snarled, winding tight around Eddie’s midriff under his shirt. **Apologize!**

 

“He’s actually a house pet,” Eddie said, wincing.

 

**We are not that either! Not a pet, Eddie; equal!**

 

“Doesn’t act like much of a house pet,” Mrs. Chen said, rolling her eyes, “what with all the meanness and running away and all.”

 

 **We didn’t run away!** Venom wailed. **Eddie ran; we couldn’t find him!**

 

Eddie felt his grin freeze and twist as horror swept through his body. Oh god, what the– _Ven, V, she’s not talking about you; she’s talking about the cat,_ he thought, panicked.

 

Scrambling for a way to exit the conversation so he could deal with Venom, Eddie quickly put his foot in his mouth: “Ha, well, what can you do? Cats; can’t live with ‘em, can’t live without ‘em.”

 

Mrs. Chen stared. “I… I realize English is not my first language, but I do not think that is a saying.”

 

“It’s not, but, well,” Eddie stumbled, trying desperately to think of an excuse to run and comfort his symbiote, “it… could be? I’m trying to make a thing outta it.”

Mrs. Chen continued to stare blankly at Eddie while he felt his cheeks redden.

 

 **Eddie,** the low voice in his head warned. Fuck, he had to do something.

 

“Well! I still have to piss, so,” Eddie started, attempting a slight little hand wave before promptly half-running, half-walking to the bathroom. Eddie slammed the door behind him, and looked toward the mirror, concerned.

 

“Venom,” he said softly. “Hey, buddy, what’s wrong? Why’d you blow up in there?”

 

Eddie’s reflection remained his own, no alien visage superimposed over his face. He felt his stomach sink. Eddie sighed. “Whatever upset you, I’m sorry, and I’m– I’m sorry I didn’t come find you earlier too. But you gotta tell me what’s going on; you’ve been tense and snappy for days. I can’t help if I don’t know what’s wrong.”

 

Suddenly, white-hot and foreign rage rushed through Eddie’s blood, making him stumble. “What the— what the fuck?” he said, panting.

 

 **_You_ ** **don’t know what’s wrong?** Venom snarled, tensing Eddie’s muscles. **You feel like** **_you_ ** **don’t know what’s going on?**

 

“...Yes?” Eddie tried. Black tentacles sprung from Eddie’s shoulders, looping around his arms and pulling him hard against the sink. “Shit!” he hissed, “V, what the fuck?”

 

As quickly as they came, the tentacles disappeared. A deep feeling of shame slowly worked through Eddie’s body. “Venom… what’s going on?”

 

 **We’re sorry** , Venom said, his voice small. **We don’t know why we always act like this** , he said, frustrated. **Don’t want to act like this.**

 

“V, c’mon,” Eddie mumbled, hand resting gently over his chest where he could feel his other hiding. “Come outta there and talk to me.”

 

Quietly, Eddie waited to see if Venom would respond. After about a minute and half of heart beats later, he did. Black seeped through Eddie’s skin and shirt to form a lone hand placed over his own. **Sorry,** Venom mumbled again, and Eddie flipped his palm over to squeeze his hand.

 

“It’s okay. We’re gonna be okay.”

 

They stood there like that, gently swaying, for a few sweet moments before Venom shifted and melted back into their body. Before Eddie complained, Venom formed a smaller, less intimidating version of their head to snake from Eddie’s shoulder to look at him. He kept his eye whites low.

 

Eddie smiled, tired. He ran his thumb under his other’s chin, and curved up to rub against his cheekbone. Venom’s eyes squint in pleasure, and he let out a soft purr. Eddie felt his grin grow.

 

“Hi,” he said softly.

 

**“Hi.”**

 

“Wanna tell me what’s wrong?”

 

**“...No.”**

 

“Will you tell me what’s wrong anyway?”

 

**“...Yes. But only if you do too.”**

 

Eddie shrugged. “Fair enough,” he said, doing his best to squash his anxiety.

 

 **“That!”** Venom yelled, surprising him. “ **We don’t like that! We hate that!”**

 

“I– what?” Eddie said, confused.

 

Venom huffed, frustrated that his partner couldn’t instantly understand his meaning. **“When you try to hide your feelings with us; when you don’t want to share,”** he said, drooping.

 

Eddie paused. “V, I love you, but we don’t have to share everything. It’s not healthy.”

 

“ **Maybe for a human,”** Venom argued, **“but together we’re not just human anymore. We’re… more. And feeling your emotions and not understanding where they’re coming from or how to alleviate your discomfort gives us a headache. It feels strange.”**

 

“Well, okay, I guess that makes sense. But there are somethings I want to keep to myself; remember our talk about boundaries?” Eddie said, brow furrowed.

 

Venom gave the impression of an eye roll. **“Yes Eddie, we remember. But you are not hiding little things that affect just you; you’re hiding things that we need to be part of too.”**

 

Eddie cocked his head, confused. “What do you mean?”

 

 **“Things like the house!”** Venom said, snapping. **“You won’t tell us when we’re moving out, or let us help make any decisions! We know we’ve made bad choices before, but you are good, and you can help us make good decisions! But instead you make all the decisions, and we just have to watch.”** Venom dropped back under Eddie’s skin, suddenly feeling very small and upset. **“We don’t want to just watch, Eddie,”** he mumbled. **“We want to be part of things too. We want to be equal. We’re not a baby or a pet. Not stupid, Eddie.”**

 

“Venom,” Eddie said, blinking hard, “Venom, hey, hey. Come back out, it’s okay, I’m– fuck, I know I sound like a broken record, but I’m so sorry. I… I didn’t know you felt that way,” he said, biting down on his lip, hard. “I never wanted to make you feel that way.”

 

Eddie began to pace, frustrated with himself. It was hard to bite back on his anger, but god dammit, he was trying to be a better man. He’d wanted to be a good example for Venom, to be supportive and knowledgeable and warm, but now he’s gone and fucked up his other’s emotional well-being just like all of his other partners.

 

“ **No Eddie! Not a fuckup!”** Venom said desperately, manifesting a head and panicked eyes.

 

“No, V, it does matter,” Eddie said with a sigh. He sat down heavy on the closed toilet seat. “I made a mistake, and I hurt you, and that’s not cool. But,” he said with a deep breath, “we can make it better. We can talk it out.”

 

Suddenly, Eddie laughed with a snort. The symbiote was confused. “Fuck V,” he said, grinning ruefully, “I can’t believe you got me to become emotionally mature.”

 

 **“There are many benefits to symbiosis,”** he said hauntingly. Eddie laughed again.

 

“Yeah, yeah there sure are,” he said, reaching up to stroke Venom’s face. Eddie steeled his own, and drew his hands back to rest on his thighs. “Okay, down to business. What do you wanna talk about first?”

 

 **“The house,”** Venom blurted. **“We don’t like it here. We can’t come out to see you like this,”** he said, bumping his head against Eddie’s shoulder, **“And we can’t talk to you often because you’re afraid of the old woman finding out about tus.”**

 

Eddie flinched. “Okay, yeah that’s… that’s actually a big problem.”

 

 **“We don’t want to hide all the time,”** Venom mumbled. **“Know we have to do it outside, but want to be able to move and stretch and speak in our own home.”**

 

“And you don’t feel like you can do that,” Eddie said sadly. “Why didn’t you tell me that earlier?”

 

 **“Tried to! But you kept pulling away. Wasn’t worth it,”** he said, casting his eyes away from Eddie. **“Besides, you are good. Decided if you thought it was good that we stayed, that it was good if we– if I hid, then it was.”** Venom looked back to his horrified host. **“We realized recently that we are bad, but together, we could be good! We could be a hero, Eddie! We are heroes!”**

 

“Venom,” he gasped, running his hands up and down his symbiote’s flank, “Venom, no, no, you’re not bad! How could you– no, you’re not–“

 

 **“Eddie,”** Venom interrupted, **“We regularly have to stop ourselves from egging you on to eat you fellow humans. We are not good.”**

 

“Well I’m not good either,” Eddie declared. “I mean, you saw what I did to Anne! What I’ve done in the past to get a story, my relationship with my dad– you KNOW I’ve fucked up big time before, but you still– you still love me, right?”

 

 **“Of course we still love you!”** Venom said, upset. **“You did good things too! You saved the world! That makes you good!”**

 

“You saved the world too, V,” Eddie said softly. “There’s no way in hell I could’ve done that without you.”

 

 **“Oh,”** said Venom, leaning into Eddie’s hand that was slowly stroking his head.

 

“Yeah, ‘oh’” Eddie said with a gentle smile. “We’re both fuck ups, but that doesn’t make us bad people; it just makes us people.”

 

 **“We’re not people, Eddie,”** Venom said, look up towards Eddie with big, sad eyes.

 

Eddie shrugged. “Don’t have to be human to be people, love.” Warmth spread through Eddie’s chest, mixing with his own relief and careful feelings of protectiveness with his other’s.

 

“I love Mrs. Chen like family,” Eddie said more seriously. “My mom died when I was born, and my dad never much cared for me. Lan’s been there for me in ways no one has ever have before, and that’s why I haven’t wanted to leave. I didn't want to tell you that because it felt embarrassing, but you’re you,” he said, smiling. “I don’t want to keep secrets from you, and I don’t want to make you stay secret in a place that you should be able to feel safe and relaxed in.”

 

 **“We can come back,”** Venom said. **“We can still visit, buy from the store. And we promise not to eat the cat,”** he said with a playful, tooth grin.

 

Eddie reflected his own right back at Venom. “Yeah, okay,” he said. “I’d like that a lot.”

 

“Um,” said Mrs. Chen from the open doorway, “You’d been in there for a long time and never answered me when I called, so I grabbed a key from the closet and opened the door, and uh… what the fuck is going on in my apartment?”

 

 **“Oh shit,”** Venom and Eddie said together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope y’all have a merry Christmas if ya celebrate and a happy new year <3 grammar edit coming soon.
> 
> 1/14/19 grammar edit done :P expect new chapter this weekend. Come bug me on tumblr at Warbles80HD; I post about spiderverse, venom, and lesbians


	6. Marble Counter Tops and a King Sized Bed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone fights and must decide ithe value of making up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bet y’all thought I wouldn’t finish this shit but I did!!! Anyway I’ll make one final read through for grammar tomorrow but this is it for now. Maybe I’ll write a short follow up or epilogue with Marilag or Chen looking after the kids while V and Eddie work or something some day, I’m not sure. Thank you so much for sticking with me through this while I worked on college in between and for being patient. 
> 
> I thrive off comments and kudos so y’all know what’s up

“... So If I said, ‘this isn’t what it looks like–’” 

 

“Eddie, I can't even  _ imagine _ what ‘this’  _ is _ , let alone what it looks like,” Mrs. Chen said with her arms crossed. 

 

Eddie made a face. “Yeah, okay,” he said, “that’s fair.” His eyes darted left to right, fingers clenching and unclenching as he tried, once again, to desperately come up with a believable excuse.  _ C’mon V! _ he thought,  _ Could really use your help right now! _

 

Venom swiveled, looking back and forth between Eddie and the small-yet-extremely-threatening old woman standing at the door.  **“Right. Okay,”** he said to Eddie with a dip of his head before turning his eye whites back to Mrs. Chen.  **“You are human dreaming,”** Venom said with a false bravado. 

 

Eddie’s eye twitched. Mrs. Chen pursed her lips. “Human dreaming,” she said flatly. 

 

Venom nodded knowingly.  **“Yes. You are hallucinating as you sleep. This dream is very strange, but so are most human dreams, so you can ignore us,”** he said. Damn, he was good. 

 

Eddie disagreed. 

 

Smacking his face, Eddie dug his fingers into his cheeks as he dragged his hands down past his chin. “Goddamnit V,” he groaned.

 

“Somebody better tell me what’s going on before I call the Avengers,” Mrs. Chen growled. 

 

**“No!”** Venom yelled just as Eddie screamed, “I have an alien tapeworm!” Both paused to look at each other, disgruntled. Mrs. Chen blinked slowly. 

 

“Um,” Eddie started, “If it makes it any better… I consensually have an alien tapeworm?” Eddie was sweating a lot, but soldiered on. Mrs. Chen humored him skeptically, as usual. 

 

“Like, he asked if he could stay here, on earth y’know? And he’d just– he’d helped me save the planet during that whole Carlton Drake mess; like, wow! He betrayed his whole species for us!” Eddie said in a rush. “It was insane and weird and awkward and difficult, but we won.” Eddie paused, growing visibly uncomfortable. “And… and we won, but we got separated too. And I didn’t help him when he needed it most.” 

 

Venom shifted to press his forehead to the side of Eddie’s head. Eddie’s cheeks flushed. “So– so afterwards he needed a body again, right, ‘cus oxygen hurts him for some reason? And he can’t exist outside in our atmosphere on his own, y’know? Well, then I uh, I just said yeah, you can ride with me buddy— hop on in!” 

 

“Hop on in,” Mrs. Chen said without inflection. 

 

“Uh huh,” Eddie said, nodding. Venom nodded too. 

 

Mrs. Chen folded her hands as if she was praying, and then pressed her interlocking fingers against the bridge of her nose. “So this,” she said, tilting her head towards Venom, “is the source of the alien rumors surrounding Drake’s death, and the destruction of the rocket?”

 

Eddie nodded meekly while his other curled protectively around his shoulders, eye whites narrowed and teeth half-barred. 

 

Mrs. Chen massages her temple. “Okay,” she said, letting her hands fall to her sides. “Okay. Okay,  _ gàn _ !” she hissed, turning to kick the door frame, hard. Eddie shrank back, stunned. 

 

“Gàn, gàn,  _ fuck _ !” she said, beginning to pace before turning to point back at Eddie. “You! Hútú dàn; you stupid, stupid boy! Do you have any idea what kind of monster you have let into my home?”

 

**“We are not a monster!”** Venom snarled before Eddie could interject. 

 

“You were talking about eating my cat just before I walked in!”

 

**“We decided not to eat the cat!”**

 

“That’s still weird! That’s still too weird!”

 

“Eddie,” Mrs. Chen said with a pleading look. “Eddie, what the hell am I supposed to do here?”

 

Eddie wilted. “I don’t know,” he said softly. “I don’t know, but I am so, so sorry for all this.”

 

Mrs. Chen sighed. “Eddie, you  _ know _ that is not enough.”

 

“I know.”

 

“You let an a carnivorous alien parasite live with you,  _ in my home, _ for the past  _ two months _ , and you did not even have the common decency to ‘give me a heads up’ that I had a unknown, secret second tenant in here this entire goddamn time!” she screamed, erupting. “Who does that? Jesus  _ fuck _ !”

 

**“We’re sorry,”** Venom tried apologetically, but it came out bitter and unconvincing. 

 

“And you!” Mrs. Chen continued yelling, “I do not want to hear a sing  _ peep _ out of you until Eddie and I finish sorting this out,” she said, fuming. 

 

Venom shrank back, eyeing the small woman warily. She was barely 4’11, but she was shaking in anger and had a certain kind of power behind her eyes, a certain kind of strength in her stature that spoke directly to Venom’s hindbrain, warning him to retreat. He drew behind Eddie, protective, agitated and hissing. 

 

Mrs. Chen looked ready to hiss right back. Lan had never been the type to duck out of the room when shit hit the fan; it simply wasn’t her way. Yes, she was capable of compromise when backed into a corner— as the daughter of immigrants, as a lesbian, as a widowed elderly Chinese woman living alone in one of the worst neighborhoods in San Francisco? Yeah, she’d had to swallow her pride plenty to survive, but never her anger. 

 

So sure, when a local gangster had first walked in to her store with a shitty protection racket and said, “your money or your life,” of course she’d given him the fucking money. But that doesn’t mean she didn’t mouth-off a time or two before he backhanded her into submission. 

 

_ Please _ . Like she hadn’t been cracked in the face before. Kids these days didn’t know shit about what women like Chen Lan had grown up with. 

 

She looked at the oily little thing fluffed up like an angry cat, lurking behind Eddie’s shoulders, up and down, and curled her lip. 

 

Like she said: kids these days didn’t know shit. Sure, maybe this one had more teeth than most of the youth of today, but the bravado was the same, and Lan was so tired. She was so tired, and so goddamn angry. 

 

This was supposed to be her  _ home _ , somewhere safe for her and her’s: for her business, for her cat, for her plants. For the framed photo of her mother, and the family picture albums Lan had made for her own children. For Lan’s knitting, for her son’s christening gown, for the paintings her partner had made for her. For her husband’s lone wedding band. For a promise of a future with Marilag. 

 

She had thought this was starting to become a home for Eddie too, but apparently she was wrong, because why else would he invite such danger into Lan’s first and last sanctuary? Had he not cared for her? How could he, if he was so willing to break her trust like this?

 

Perhaps Eddie Brock was not the type of man she thought he was. Perhaps he was a threat, and should be treated as much of one as the creature draped across his back, the one with a clawed hand curled around his shoulder. 

 

Beastly. 

 

Eddie said the thing was an alien. An alien that was clearly some sort of apex predator, and a killer. Lan knew she should stand down, take Eddie’s excuses, do whatever they say so she could be sure to make it out alive, but  _ god _ – 

 

_ God, I’m tired,  _ she thought. 

 

Fuck it. She was gonna say her piece no matter what happened next. 

 

“Fuck you, Eddie Brock.”

 

**“Don’t say that!”** Venom snapped, quick. 

 

“Venom—” Eddie started, before Lan interrupted with a scoff. 

 

“No, please, let’s see what your interdimensional tapeworm has to say,” she said, mockingly. 

 

**“Extraterrestrial, not interdimensional! And we are not a tapeworm! Even If we were, we certainly wouldn’t be** **_interdimensional_ ** **—”**

 

“Whatever! English is my third language, you stupid space eel!”

 

**“And it’s my eighteenth, you senile old woman!”**

 

“Venom!” Eddie said with a yelp. “You said you’d play nice!”

 

**“But Eddie,** **_she’s_ ** **not playing nice!”** Venom whined. 

 

“She doesn’t have to V; we’re in the wrong,” Eddie explained. Privately Eddie felt that she didn’t have to escalate things so much, but he  _ had _ brought and kept a cannibalistic alien into their shared apartment without telling her, so some anger was warranted. Still, he didn’t want V to snap and hurt her. 

 

Venom turned towards Eddie, his eye whites creased.  **“We wouldn’t hurt her,”** they said, feelings bruised.  **“We promised.”**

 

_ Fuck _ . Eddie hadn’t meant for V to hear that thought. “Venom, look, I didn’t–”

 

“Well I don’t care what you promised!” Lan interrupted. Eddie, and by extension, Venom, froze. Lan leaned against the door frame, her anger slowly fading leaving her only to feel empty and drained. “This is… Eddie, this was my home.”

 

Eddie was quiet. Lan sighed, and turned her head. “I need you out for the night; I need space to think.”

 

“Okay,” he said softly. Venom stayed silent, and pulled himself closer to Eddie in an attempt at comfort. “We’ll pack a bag.” Lan nodded. 

 

She could hear them rustling through the apartment as she stayed planted by the bathroom, could hear the alien’s low rumblings of hurt and confusion, Eddie’s exhausted replies. She stayed put, leaning heavily against the door frame until she heard the front latch shut. Then, she went to make some tea. 

 

It was time to meditate. Perhaps she would call Marilag afterwards. 

 

***

**What are we doing here, Eddie?** V asked in his mind. Eddie pulled his jacket closer, shivering in the cool evening chill, and continued walking through the half empty park. 

 

**Eddie?** V prompted.  **Eddie, we want to know where we’re going. Don’t want to look through your head; want you to tell us,** he said, frustrated. 

 

Eddie sighed, and kicked a stray pebble. “I don’t know yet,” he said, defeated. 

 

**We’re obviously going somewhere,** Venom said, sourly. 

 

Eddie rolled his eyes. “Ever heard of mindless wandering, babe? Because that’s all there is for the plan so far, seeing as how everything else has been canceled since we definitely just got kicked out of our apartment. So feel free to add something new to the docket; it’s clearer than it ever has been before.”

 

Eddie could feel Venom’s distaste.  **No need to be short,** he grumbled, immediately making Eddie’s misplaced frustration switch to regret. 

 

“You’re right,” he said, rubbing his eyes. “I’m sorry; that wasn’t fair.”

 

**Seems like all we do is apologize,** Venom grumbled,  **And where does that get us?**

 

“Somewhere better than we were before, I hope,” Eddie said, shifting the position of the bag tossed over his shoulder. Venom’s silence was pointed as Eddie surveyed the darkening park. Eddie grimenced. 

 

“Yeah, okay, point taken. But still,” he said, trying to remain positive, “dont people always say it’s gonna get worse before it gets better?”

 

Eddie and Venom flinched at the distant  _ crack! _ of thunder. Eddie took a deep breath in through his nose, struggling not to lose his cool. “Goddamnit, that’s– that’s just not fair. Fuckin’ hell.”

 

Venom deeper out of Eddie’s pores and rose above the layers of his clothes, and began to form a thick rain jacket. In a blink, he was finished with none the wiser but his host. 

 

“Oh,” Eddie said, surprised. “Uh, thank you.” Eddie scrubbed at the faint blush on his cheeks as his symbiote hummed in acknowledgment of his thanks.  **Just get us out of the rain.**

 

“Right, of course buddy.” Eddie quickly moved them to the nearest underpass to set up camp, wrapping his alien jacket closely around his shivering body. The jacket stretched until it was large enough to be used like a blanket, tucking itself snuggly against Eddie’s arms and legs until he began to warm. He pressed his lips to the side of his hood softly, like a chaste kiss. “Thank you,” he mumbled. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

 

Venom stayed quiet, and Eddie soon drifted off into an uncomfortable sleep. He watched the occasional car drive by, and tried to bury the heavy feeling of guilt seeping through his membrane. 

 

***

Mrs. Chen sipped quietly from her cup of oolong tea, thinking of her conversation with Marilag from earlier. After taking some time to decompress, Mrs. Chen has called her girlfriend. She had simply wanted to hear her voice, to hear her lover laugh as she described something funny she had seen on the bus, or an interesting quote from the new book she was reading. She wanted something sweet, and normal. 

 

“It’s fantastic;  _ bebe _ , you would love it! It won the Man Booker prize last year, and there were  _ many _ tough contenders for it, as you know.”

 

“Of course, darling,” Lan hummed. “I always love your book recommendations.”

 

Marilag snorted. “Now I  _ know _ that’s not true, otherwise you would be reading more poetry.”

 

Lan laughed. “Alright, so maybe I don’t read all of them, but I always try them,  _ mahal _ .” Lan heard Marilag give a soft, pleased exhale. 

 

“I love when you try and sprinkle in pet names from my language into our conversations,” she giggled. “You don’t always pronounce the words correctly, but I still think it’s sweet.”

 

“Of course,  _ giliw _ .”

 

“Ugh, stop!” Marilag laughed. “You sound so old fashioned!” 

 

Lan smiled. Marilag made her feel like a little girl again, gripping her friend’s hand just a little bit too tightly as they walked to school together. But with Marilag, Lan felt safe. It wasn’t like before, when her father sat her down one day and told her under no uncertain terms what was expected of her– all Marilag expected from Lan was for her to listen to her when she spoke, and to tell her how she felt. 

 

And that was good. That was… that was better than good; it was something new and exciting. It was like the glimpse into the life Lan could have had if she had been able to be open with her sexuality from birth– she was getting a second chance to cash her check for a chance at a loving partner who truly loved and understood her. 

 

However, with the two of them, there was no time to be bitter about what or who they could have been if only the world had been a little kinder to them when they were younger. Both Marilag and Lan were old women; they understood the necessity of letting go, and when to cling to what they loved tight. 

 

It was this lesson that Lan was doing her best to ignore as she drank her tea. For the truth was, Lan did love Eddie– he was almost like a stupid,  _ stupid _ son to her– but the boy was trouble. Or if he wasn’t, he certainly attracted it in all senses of the word. 

 

Lan sighed, sinking further into her chair. She turned her head to look at the light pollution in the sky, and felt her chest ache. 

 

As a child, her mother would lull her to sleep with tales from the homeland. Family stories and countryside myths wound together until they blended in Lan’s dreams where great-grandparents and little cousins would dance under the stars with dragons. 

 

Lan had told her children those very same stories. She wondered if they remembered them, and if they would pass them onto her grandchildren, her great-grandchildren. She had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach that they would not, and she once again found herself wondering,  _ is this how my mother felt? _

 

Lan was surprised to feel something wet running down her cheek, and choked on an unexpected sob. “Oh,” she said, voice half-wrecked, and found that there really wasn’t anything more to be said than that. “Oh.”

 

Lan’s tears were interrupted by a tap-tap-tapping at the window. She sat still.  _ What the hell? _

 

She sat quietly, waiting for the sound to return. When it didn’t, Lan groaned and rubbed a hand over her face, briskly drying her tears. It was getting late. 

 

**“Hello?”** said a voice, impossibly soft. Lan froze in her tracks. 

 

**“We’re not here to hurt you,”** it said.  **“We just want to talk.”**

 

Lan swallowed hard, her back to the window. 

 

**“It’s just us. Eddie is… he is sleeping.”**

 

“What do you mean, ‘he’s sleeping,’” she croaked. Shaking, she turned around, her eyes bloodshot. “I swear to God, if you’ve hurt a single hair on that boy’s head–!”

 

**“No!”** The shadow in her window said, it’s eye-whites stretched wide.  **“No, we would never!”**

 

She stared at it, quiet, before she began to laugh. It started soft, growing louder in volume and erratic as as she went. 

 

**“What are you doing?”** The creature asked, almost nervous.  **“Why are you laughing?”** It then looked frustrated.  **“We don’t understand!”**

 

“Of course you don’t understand!” she said between breaths. “You’re a fucking alien! I’m talking to an alien!  _ Fuck! _ ”

 

Lan could accept that there were aliens, that there were bloodthirsty monsters that roamed this earth and the stars, but to be faced with one? Alone, in her apartment? She felt as if she was being tested, but by what, she had no idea. 

 

The universe was beautiful. The universe was cruel. Part of the universe included a nine foot tall goo-monster with massive fangs pushing itself through her window frame. She did not have time to question its existence earlier with Eddie, did her best to ignore it later, and now the time to wonder how and why it was alive had passed. 

 

Lan was not one to spend time on missed opportunities, so she decided to take the creature– Venom, Eddie had called it?– in stride. 

 

Lam shook her head, straightened her, and tipped her head up to make eye contact with the thing in her living room. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing here, and where’s Eddie?” 

 

Venom tilted its– his?– head as if he was looking away, guilty.  **“He is here, with us. We are just borrowing his body to be in this form while he sleeps.”**

 

“That’s weird.”

 

**“We know,”** he sighed,  **“But we wanted to talk to you by ourselves, and that’s very difficult to do as a symbiote.”** He shifted, uncomfortable.  **“We don’t like being without Eddie awake too, but the internet said apologizes should be personal.”**

 

Lan snorted. “You googled how to apologize?”

 

**“Yes,”** he said, a little defensive.  **“We are trying to do the right thing! We want to be good, like Eddie!”**

 

“Eddie is not a good man,” Lan said. Venom opened his mouth to protest. “I’m not saying he’s a bad man either,” she continued, cutting him off, “But he still has work to do. We all do,” she said pointedly. 

 

**“We are trying,”** he said softly, slumping to be the same height as Lan.  **“We want to be better than we are.”**

 

“You should,” Lan said, nodding. “Everyone should.”

 

**“How do we become better?”** he asked sincerely. 

 

Lan blinked. When she originally decided to just run with the situation of meeting an alien in her home (for the second time in a day!), counciling it was not what she had in mind. 

 

But he looked so vulnerable, staring at her like that. Like she was something bright and wise that he had never seen before, that she was something that was worth listening to. It was humbling, almost, until she remembered what it was doing here and why. 

 

“Well,” Lan said, “That’s something that you will have to decide for yourself. Eddie, myself, and others can try and tell you what we think is right, but at the end of the day, that’s up to you.” 

 

Venom was quiet for a moment before speaking.  **“We are… not used to thinking on our own,”** he said slowly.  **“We have always existed as part of a collective: thinking together, acting together, influencing each other. To be alone is– it is unbearable.”**

 

Venom softened, looking into Lan’s eyes.  **“We are sorry that we made you feel alone in your own home. We were scared you would force us to leave, and make us alone too.”**

 

“I did,” Lan said. 

 

**“Not to leave** **_here_ ** **,”** he said, gesturing around the room,  **“But Eddie.”**

 

“Oh,” she said in realization. “You love him.” 

 

**“Of course we love him,”** he snorted, as if it was a silly thing to question. Water was wet, the sky was blue, and Venom had loved Eddie as long as he had known of the concept.  **“How could we not?”**

 

Lan remained quiet. 

 

Venom cocked his head at her.  **“He listens to you, you know. He was so upset today after we left here.”** Venom, now cross-legged as Wall, lightly scratched a claw along the floor. Lan did not flinch.  **“He hates disappointing you because he loves you.”**

 

“I love him too,” she said, distant. “But I don’t know if I can trust him.”

 

**“Let Eddie and I prove that you can,”** Venom urged. 

 

“Why are you doing this?” Lan asked. “You didn’t seem to care much earlier.”

 

Venom shrugged.  **“I was angry and hurt then. Both Eddie and I have a few anger issues, but we’re trying to change. Also,”** he continued,  **“I did not realize how important you were to one another.**

 

Venom paused.  **“I just want him to be happy. Without you, part of him will always be unhappy.”**

 

“So what do you want me to do?” Lan asked. This was all so much. 

 

**“Whatever you think is best,”** Venom said honestly.  **“Eddie would not want us to force you to do anything.”**

 

He stood up as if to leave.  **“Like we said before, we just wanted to talk.”**

 

“Then keep talking,” Lan said. “If you have any intention of becoming my second roommate, I’ll need to know you better before deciding whether or not to let you stay.”

 

Venom froze, shocked, before slowly nodding, and sitting back down. 

 

“And for what it’s worth? I’m sorry too. You’re not a monster.”

 

***

“You know, you don’t actually have to sleep on the couch.”

 

Eddie pressed his face deeper into the scratchy fabric of the couch cushion, half asleep and unable to fully process what was being said to him. He ignored the following huff from the voice in favor of burrowing further into his nest of pillows and blankets. 

 

**“Eddie,”** said Venom,  **“Time to wake up. Your friend is talking, and you are being very rude.”** Eddie groaned in reply, squeezing his eyes shut tighter. His body ached, and it felt like he hadn’t got nearly enough sleep after everything that had happened yesterday. Possibly losing one of your only friends and being kicked out of your apartment had that kind of effect. 

 

“Wait,” he said aloud, confused. He sat up quickly, the blood rush making him dizzy, and surveyed his environment. “What the fuck?”

 

**“Eddie!”** Venom snapped.  **“Stop trying to embarrass us in front of Mrs. Chen! It is not cool.”**

 

Eddie blinked in confusion as Mrs. Chen continued. “Your tapeworm is right,” she said with a sniff. “It’s rude to swear in front of an old lady.”

 

“You’re not old,” Eddie said automatically. 

 

Mrs. Chen rolled her eyes. “I’m seventy-eight,” she said. “That’s old, Eddie.”

 

**“Surviving this late into the human life cycle is not easy, Eddie,”** Venom said. **“Don’t down play age, it’s an accomplishment,”** Venom sniffed. Mrs. Chen coughed to hide a short laugh. 

 

Eddie squinted at the two before looking back down at himself, his blanket nest on the couch, and the surrounding apartment that he had very much not fallen asleep in and had, as of last night, been very much banned from. He then look back up to the odd pair in front of him. 

 

“I am… I’m very confused right now,” Eddie said slowly. “When did— how did I even get here?”

 

**“We–** **_I_ ** **brought us here,”** Venom said, “ **To say sorry.”**

 

“Really?”

 

“Yes,” Mrs. Chen replied. “And he did it quite nicely too.”

 

Eddie narrowed his eyes, unconvinced. “Well, maybe nice is not the best word,” Mrs. Chen amended, “but he was quite genuine with his apology, and that meant something to me.”

 

Eddie nodded haltingly, still trying to recover his bearings. “I’m glad– I’m glad to hear that, Chen.”

 

“Mm. As I was saying, you don’t actually have to sleep on the couch.” 

 

Eddie cocked his head. “What?”

 

Mrs. Chen sighed, crossing her arms. She looked away, almost as if she was slightly embarrassed. “I actually have a guest room I’ve been using for storage this whole time. Clean it out with me, and it can be yours.”

 

“What?!” Eddie yelled, sitting straight up. “Lan, I’ve been living here for weeks!”

 

“Yes, paying very low rent to share a good apartment in San Francisco!”

 

“I’m thirty-six! Sleeping on the couch hurts!”

 

**“No it doesn’t,”** Venom said, confused.  **“We always healed you from any soreness.”**

 

“Venom!”

 

“Yes, listen to the goo alien! Also, it was a futon, Eddie. Not my fault you were to lazy to unfold it half the time,” Mrs. Chen tsked 

 

“Whatever,” he grumbled, slumping back against the couch with an arm thrown over his face dramatically. Venom, in his small, snake-like form, bumped his snout against Eddie’s forehead. Eddie couldn’t help but smile.

 

The three of them sat in the comfortable silence for a few moments before Eddie grew serious. Sitting back up, he faced Mrs. Chen.

 

“Lan,” he started, “I really am sorry–”

 

“Oh, be quiet you stupid boy. If I have to hear one more ‘I’m sorry’ out of anyone, my head’s going to explode.” Her face softened. “You really want to make it up to me? Help me clean out my storage room.” Venom nodded at Eddie to take the offer. 

 

Confused, Eddie stood up and followed the older woman to a door he always assumed was a linen closet. Venom wrapped himself around Eddie like a scarf while the two of them watched Lan unlock the door with a key. She paused, and looked back at the two of them before stealing herself and pushing the door open. 

 

Inside the room were two dusty twin beds. Between them stood a dresser with faded photographs and yellowing papers with faded notes written on them, with sealed boxes stacked in a few different piles throughout the room. Unlike the rest of the planters in the apartment, the flowerpots laid barren. 

 

Boa trotted in, sneezing. He cast Eddie a wary look and then rubbed against his mistress’s legs. She paid him no mind as she scanned the room.

 

“This was my husband’s office once,” Lan said. “Then it was my children’s bedroom, and now it is this.” 

 

She was quiet. Eddie respected this. 

 

Lan turned back to him. “I want help sorting through my memories,” she said, “And I want the two of you to do it with me.”

 

“I would be honored,” Eddie said genuinely. Lan smiled, and Venom grinned in response. 

 

“Good,” she said, regaining her composure, “Because it wasn’t a request.” Her face softened, and she tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. 

 

“I still haven’t fully forgiven you for lying to me, but I understand. I talked to your friend for a very long time last night,” Lan told Eddie, “And I would like both of you to stay for now. But we have to work together if this is going to work.”

 

**“We can do that,”** Venom said. Eddie nodded as well. Lan smiled. 

  
  


“Alright, that’s what I thought. Also, Marilag agreed to come cook us lunch today if we could finish half of this before one, so we’re starting early.” Eddie laughed. 

 

The cat purred loudly as the two began to work with Venom acting as an extra hand, occasionally rubbing his cheek against the other’s face when he thought Lan wasn’t looking. She wondered if he noticed the way his host’s cheeks pinked, but decided he must know. Somethings didn’t have to be said. 

 

Bao hopped lightly up to a sunny spot near the window sill, and closed his eyes, letting the background noise of soft laughter and conversation soothe him to sleep. 

 

It was comfortable here– or at least, it was starting to be. A lot can grow in empty rooms, hosts, or flowerpots, provided they are given the proper care they need. 

 

At ten am on a Saturday morning, there was a lot of hope budding in the home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, this has been an amazing experience. It’s the first multi chapter fic ive ever finished so I’m excited! Hmu at tumblr as Warbles80HD or discord as Ratboy if you ever wanna chat. I also got a Mob pyscho fic going on rn.


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